Tour of Guangxi: Polanc 11th in the final classification

Aru closes 15th overall, Bono ends career

The final stage of the Tour of Guangxi, 169km with the start and finish in Guilin, saw the general classification stay mostly the same. UAE Team Emirates finished its Chinese trip with Jan Polanc in 11th overall and Fabio Aru in 15th. Both riders ended 28″ back from Gianni Moscon (Team Sky), overall winner of the Asian WorldTour race.

The last stage ended with a group sprint, won by Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Floors) ahead of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe). Polanc took 18th.

(Helped by Bono and Troia, photo: Bettini).

Jan Polanc: “I arrived in China at the end of a long competitive season, but I felt I still had energy in my legs, so I tried to fight to be in the top end of the general classification.

“It’s a pity I did not manage to get into the top 10 spots, even if I tried to throw myself in the final sprint yesterday to improve my position. I was involved in the crash, however. Today there was no space to try anything.”

Fabio Aru spoke about his first participation in China: “It’s an experience that I liked and that I embraced with enthusiasm. The race is beautiful and well organized, unfortunately we had to deal with the bad weather: without the rain, everything would have been even more interesting.”

The final stage of the 2018 Tour of Guangxi marked the end of Matteo Bono’s career. The rider from Brescia began in 2005 as a trainee and combined class and devotion for 13 seasons. He always raced with the team, first with Lampre and then UAE Team Emirates.